Harry Potter and the End of Days
by Writersaurus Rex
Summary: For five and a half centuries, Harry Potter has been "The Boy Who Lived." Sometimes he thinks he's "The Boy Who's Lived Too Long," but there's nothing to be done about it. Or is there? The reappearance of an old friend spurs him to do something he may not live to regret.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter sat in his parlour at 12 Grimmauld Place, looking thoughtfully at the wand in his hand. Centuries of use had worn the holly wood smooth, but other than that it looked just as it had the day it chose him.

His reverie was disturbed by a familiar and faint wheezing, groaning sound that he hadn't heard in way too many years, barely audible over the hustle and bustle of the London streets outside. Harry got up from the easy chair, moving to a window to look out. The blue antique police box on the far sidewalk was familiar. The skinny brown-haired man in the tight suit and glasses waving up at him from the box's door, however, was not – although Harry felt that he should be, as though the man was someone he vaguely knew once but couldn't put a name to the face anymore. He also wondered how the man could be waving at _him_, as he had ages ago restored the protective charms that made the house unseeable by anyone who didn't already know it was there.

He frowned at the stranger before the man waved him out again with a grin on his face. Harry slipped his wand into his pocket and left his office. "I'm going out for a walk, Artemesia," he told his housekeeper (who he was convinced also worked for the Ministry of Magic). "I'll be back in a few."

"Good to see you again, Harry!" the stranger said. "You haven't changed a bit! Fancy a bit of a jaunt, go on holiday?"

"Not to sound thick, but who are you?"

"Oh. Well, I suppose I have regenerated since the last time I've seen you...or you've seen me, for that matter. I'm The Doctor." The stranger stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you again."

Seeing the suspicious look on Harry's face, he continued. "We first met in the Dalek invasion of 1997, a few months before you defeated Voldemort. I took you and Ginny on a cruise on the Cobalt Ocean of Obisav 2. Sorry again about the whole kraken thing."

"Yeah," Harry said with a smile, "you're the Doctor, all right. Still can't get used to the new faces all the time. Last I saw you, you were in black leather, with some...rather remarkable ears."

"So, what do you say, Harry?" the Doctor said after a brief, awkward silence. "You coming?"

"Yeah, sure." Harry entered the Tardis, stopping a few feet in as the Doctor closed the door.

"You've redecorated," he said, looking around as the Doctor scampered to the control panel to start pushing levers and pressing buttons. "I like it."

"The old gal was due for a change." The Doctor and Harry both grasped at the console when the Tardis lurched unexpectedly. "So, where do you want to go?"

The Doctor looked over at Harry when he didn't reply, and saw that the wizard was leaning against the console, staring at nothing. The Doctor flung his arm around Harry's shoulder. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"Nothing's wrong," Harry said, but stood silently after that for a minute.

"How do you do it?" he finally said.

"Do what?"

"How do you deal with living forever, while everyone around you, everyone you love and care about grows old and dies?"

"Wellll, I wouldn't say I live 'forever', exactly," the Doctor said before he realized that it it wasn't exactly the right time for levity and dropped his arm.

"I don't," he continued. He leaned back against the console. "Not really. It hurts every single time. The pain of any one parting eventually becomes a dull ache, but it never really goes away. And there's always new pain to join the old. Eventually you feel like one giant, humongous bruise."

"Does the new bodies help?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. "Not really, no." He looked at Harry, who was now looking down at the floor. "What's brought this on?"

"I've just returned from Saint Mungo's, day before yesterday. One of my great-great-something-or-other grandsons died of old age. And it got me thinking, how so very old I am, Doctor. Older than I have any right to be.

"I turn 568 in a few weeks. I've seen so much. I've seen Dalek invasions, Cybermen, I've defeated three separate Dark Lords since Voldemort, I've seen muggles and wizards both reach the stars, I've seen the repeal of the International Statute of Secrecy and beings being given full equality to humans, I've lived through two World Wars. The one thing I haven't seen is myself growing any older; I look just the same as I did the day I killed Voldemort. I can't die, Doctor. I've been Avada Kedavra'd more times than I can count, I've been hit by Dalek death rays, and I'm still here."

"I'm so sorry, Harry." The Doctor wrapped his arms around Harry and held him close while Harry fought back tears.

"It sounds like a holiday is just what you need. We can go wherever you want, for as long as you want, while you sort yourself out." The Doctor hopped up and started to manipulate the controls of the Tardis again.

"I need to go to Hogwarts again, Doctor."

"Hogwarts? Whatever for?"

"And I need to go to May 1, 1998."

"What?" The Doctor looked at Harry, alarmed. "No! You can't go back into your own personal time stream! The risk of creating a paradox is astronomical, especially with a pivot point like that!"

Harry sprang to his feet. "I have to, Doctor! The only way I can die is at Voldemort's hands..."

"You don't know that!"

"And since Voldemort is already dead," Harry shouted, ignoring the Doctor's interruption, "I have to go back to when he was alive and get him to kill me, without arousing his suspicion. He already expected me to surrender to him. My living this long, it's not right. Don't you see that?" Harry wiped the tears from his eyes angrily.

"No, I don't," the Doctor said calmly as he stepped away from the console. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I won't help you in this."

"_I'm_ sorry, Doctor, but you don't leave me any choice. Imperio!" Harry whipped his wand up to point at the Doctor, who returned to the controls. _Take me to the Battle of Hogwarts_, Harry kept thinking, as loudly as he could. He could feel the Doctor fighting against the Imperius curse, more effectively than anyone that he could remember. The Doctor's mind felt unlike any Harry had ever used the Imperius Curse on before. It had always been cut and dried – either the Curse worked (in which case he simply had to picture what the victim was to do while under the Curse's effects), or it failed (and, more often than not, he had to face the wrath of an angry Dark Wizard). The Doctor's mind, however, seemed to take Harry's full attention. It felt almost like trying to juggle a handful of slime.

The Tardis felt like it slammed into something and slid to one side, knocking both Harry and the Doctor off their feet. When the Tardis finally came to a stop, Harry moved to the door and looked out the windows. It was dark out, and he could see the twisted shadows of the Forbidden Forest.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the Doctor get to his feet and lunge to the console. Harry aimed his wand at the Doctor and yelled "Stupefy!" watching as the Doctor hit the deck, unconscious.

Harry pulled on the door, only to find that it was locked. A silent "Alohamora" fixed that, and he stuck his head out for quick look around.

As he did, he heard a voice he hadn't heard in five and a half centuries. One that, much to his surprise, still sent chills down his spine.

"Give me Harry Potter," Voldemort said, "and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."


	2. Chapter 2

Harry looked at the Doctor, who was still unconscious on the deck of the Tardis by the control console. Satisfied that the Time Lord was still alive, he pulled the doors closed behind him. He touched his wand to the door, whispered "Colloportus," and turned away as the doors sealed shut with a squishing noise. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders before making his way to what he hoped would be his final destination.

It had been decades since Harry had last set foot on this side of Hogwarts. The last time he had been here had been when he had, against his better judgment, allowed the Board of Governors to talk him into acting as temporary Headmaster when Toliman Malfoy stepped down. It took almost two years before they finally settled on Victor Weasley (and that only when Harry threatened to leave the school headmaster-less if they didn't), who was surprisingly effective in restoring Hogwarts to at least a good portion of what it had been before the Avalon School of Magic had been founded early in the 22nd century.

The main gates opened easily at his touch, almost as though his destiny was welcoming him. As he approached the bounds of the Forbidden Forest, he looked back at Hogwarts itself, and stopped. His breath caught in his throat. He had almost forgotten how heavily damaged the castle had been in the opening salvos of the battle. Many of the walls had gaping holes in them, and he thought he could see movement in the exposed halls. His gaze wandered down to the Great Hall, and he could definitely see commotion through the windows. He thought of everyone who had given their lives needlessly in his war with Voldemort, of Fred Weasley, of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, of the dozens of others whose blood was on his hands, and felt his heart being crushed by the guilt he bore. There had to have been another way to get to Voldemort earlier, he thought (not for the first time), and they should all still be alive, with their whole lives ahead of them. Colin Creevey was the one that had hurt the most, and the one who still haunted him at times; the boy was underaged and had idolized him, and Harry _knew_ that Colin had sneaked back to fight just to impress him.

He found himself fighting back tears, the first he'd shed for Voldemort's victims in more years than he could remember. _It's a good thing I'm about to kill him myself, or I'd try to kill him myself_, he thought, then chuckled nervously.

He looked back at the castle again, and saw a line of students streaming out the door, being led by an older man with long, stringy white hair; it took him a moment to recognize him as Argus Filch, who had been caretaker when Harry was a student and who had died a few years later.

Harry hurried down the path into the Forbidden Forest, hoping that nobody saw him. He slowed slightly once he was sure that he was out of sight of the school grounds, but still walked quickly. He knew he had not much time, and had to have his final confrontation with Voldemort before the other him did.

He took a few more steps into the Forbidden Forest before he caught himself. His own penultimate confrontation with the Dark Lord had been in the Forbidden Forest...but that was not where he was now. Voldemort would still be in the Shrieking Shack.

Harry retraced his steps, turning toward Hogsmeade once he left the forest. For the first time, he found himself worrying about his chosen path. What of the Doctor was right? Would letting the Dark Lord kill him now mean that he wouldn't kill the right Harry Potter later? Or would he even have to? He no longer had Voldemort's horcrux in him – that had been destroyed at the original Battle of Hogwarts hundreds of years earlier. Or would simply killing the future Harry be good enough? And what of Snape? Would the former Potions professor still be killed by Nagini at Voldemort's command? And would young Harry still know what needed to be done without the memories Snape had given him with his dying breath?

_It will all work itself out_, he told himself. Hadn't the Doctor told him that the time stream was very resilient and had a way of righting itself if it had been tampered with? Or would he notice? How could he tell if history had been changed?

Harry stopped thinking about all the metaphysical implications of what he was about to do when he realized he had reached the Whomping Willow. He looked down at the wand he hadn't realized was still in his hand. He had to get rid of it, he thought, or he would try to defend himself against Voldemort, and he didn't want the Dark Lord to get his hands on it.

He stopped just out of range of the Willow's branches and levitated a twig to press the knot at the base of the trunk. He waited a moment to be sure it was safe to continue, then crawled into the entrance. Harry cast a Wand-Lighting Charm to illuminate the tunnel, but only went in a few feet. Using the wand, he carved "CONSTANT VIGILANCE" and his initials on the wall, then pressed his wand into the ground beneath it and scooped enough dirt over it to bury it. It would be very difficult to find, but not impossible, and he hoped that it would be found by someone worthy someday...perhaps one of his children.

He crawled back out of the Willow and got away before he brushed the dirt from his knees.

Harry continued to the Shrieking Shack. The closer he got, the louder it seemed his heart beat in his chest, until he was sure that the Dark Lord could hear him coming. A part of him (granted, a fairly small part) wondered if he was doing the right thing, or if his crazy scheme would even work. A much larger part had long ago accepted that he would, or even _must_, die. He had accepted it hundreds of years ago, when he had faced Voldemort for what he thought would be the last time, and he had never not been ready to die since. He was not like Voldemort, who had stooped to levels of evil never before seen by wizard-kind, and he knew that what Voldemort had somehow done to him when he chose Harry as an infant was just as unnatural. And in a worst-case scenario, should Voldemort not kill him for whatever reason, it would at least delay the Dark Lord enough for the younger Harry to find and destroy Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem and for Voldemort army to not attack Hogwarts. That should save dozens of lives, which in Harry's mind was a fair trade.

Harry found himself at his destination. His hands were sweating. He wiped them on his shirt as he sneaked over to peer between the slats of a boarded-up window. Just as he remembered, the only occupants were Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy. Nagini was suspended in a transparent, glowing ball near the ceiling behind Voldemort. The Dark Lord was playing with his wand, his face a mask of bored indifference. Malfoy was watching his master intently, and Harry could see beads of sweat on his forehead.

Harry slowly walked around to the front of the shack and rapped on the door.

* * *

The Doctor had spent the past several minutes at the door of the Tardis, growing increasingly frustrated. He tried unlocking the door with his sonic screwdriver, tweak the settings, and try again, over and over, with the occasional break to try from the control console. He even pleaded with the Tardis herself to help, but nothing had worked so far.

"Bloody wizards!" the Doctor cried out as he threw his hands up angrily. He didn't have time to keep trying the door, not if Harry was walking to his death. He had one last idea, but it was a very tricky manoeuvre.

"Don't let me down, girl," the Doctor said softly, petting the console tenderly before he adjusted the controls and threw the lever. The Tardis dematerialized around the doctor, leaving him on the ground. He ran toward the Forbidden Forest with no idea what to look for, but hoping he wasn't too late.

* * *

The door flew open at Harry's knock. He stepped into the Shrieking Shack, showing more confidence than he felt, and the door slammed shut behind him with a casual flick of Voldemort's wand.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort said, his voice little more than a whisper that rolled over Harry like thunder. "The Boy Who Lived. I've been expecting you, but I'm still surprised you came. Couldn't find anyone else to fight your battles for you, eh?"

"I'm done fighting. Enough people have died, Voldemort. Too many. You have Hogwarts, the wizarding world is yours. Kill me if you must, but leave the rest be."

The Dark Lord looked down at his wand thoughtfully, and Harry hoped that he would listen. He looked up, his red eyes glowing in the firelight.

"I think not," he said. A flash of green light was the last thing that Harry ever saw.

* * *

Harry's scar seared with more pain than he could ever remember feeling. He grabbed his head and dropped to his knees, moaning in agony.

"Are you all right?" the Grey Lady asked as she reached a spectral hand toward him.

Into his mind burst a vision of his own body, his arms and legs splayed in a quite uncomfortable-looking position, his eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling. Harry could tell that he was dead, and Voldemort was happier than he had ever been.

"No...it's impossible!" Harry gasped as he got to his feet unsteadily.

"I beg your pardon?"

Harry left her floating behind him as he ran back up the corridor toward the entrance hall to find Hermione.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry ran pell-mell down the corridor, but stopped and covered his head when a window exploded in front of him. He was surprised to see Hagrid's body hit the opposite wall, and relieved to see him get unsteadily to his feet and shake his head to clear the cobwebs.

"Harry, yer here!" Hagrid stopped to stare out the window, slack-jawed. Harry turned to look as well, and felt a cold chill wash over him. A Dark Mark was glowing brighter than any he had ever seen, and Harry thought it looked might be somewhere in Hogsmeade.

"Your beloved hero, your savior, 'The Boy Who Lived'," a high-pitched voice said, loud enough to carry for miles, "lives no more. He came to me to beg for his life, to plead for mercy. He learned that I have no mercy for those who stand in my way.

"Students and teachers of Hogwarts, it is not too late for you. Lay down your wands and surrender, and I will show that I am not utterly without pity. Continue to resist me, however, and I will destroy not only you but your entire families.

"You have one hour to decide your fates."

Hagrid looked from the Dark Mark to Harry, back out the window, then back at Harry. "If yer not dead, Harry, then who..."

"I wish I knew, Hagrid...but he's killed _somebody_, and he thinks that it's me. I don't know who, or why, but I have an idea as to how. I've got to go."

Harry took off at a sprint toward the Entrance Hall. Everyone he passed stopped to stare, and behind him he could hear shocked gasps and whispers. He leaped over the head of a shattered stature that groaned at him and he skidded to a halt, realizing where Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem was. He paused for only a second, torn between going to the Room of Requirement to destroy the diadem, or to find the others to let them know that he was still alive. He really had no choice, however – he knew that if the students and teachers who had stayed to fight thought that Voldemort really had killed him, they might well give up the fight.

He ran into the Entrance Hall and stopped. The noise of people arguing amongst themselves was almost deafening. As they noticed him, the tumult gradually died down. Hermione was among the first to react, dropping an arm full of long, curved, yellow fangs. She ran over to give Harry a bone-crushing hug.

"You're alive!" she whispered in his ear after a moment. He could feel her tears on his cheek. "I was so afraid."

Before she could finish, she was roughly pulled off of him, and Ginny took her place, giving him a long, passionate kiss that made the one they had shared on his 17th birthday seem like a sisterly peck on the cheek.

Ron and Hermione both cleared their throats noisily trying to get Harry's and Ginny's attention, to no avail. It wasn't until Ron yelled his sister's name practically in her ear that they finally came up for air.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, looking properly embarrassed. Ginny, however, merely gave Harry a grin and stepped back.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked. "We thought you were dead!"

"Yeah," Ron said. "Why would You-Know-Who be crowing about killing you if you're still in here?"

"About that..." Harry grabbed Ron and Hermione and pulled them aside. "Hermione, what would happen if someone died after they had taken a Polyjuice Potion?"

"I don't know. It's never happened, that I've read about. Do you think that's what happened?"

"I think so. I know Voldemort has killed me, or at least someone who looks just like me. I saw it. I couldn't have stopped him," he said when he saw Hermione's shocked look before she could upbraid him for not keeping up with his Occlumency practice to keep Voldemort out of his mind.

"I don't know who could have done it," he continued, "who could have gotten something to make a Polyjuice Potion to turn himself into me."

"What about the batch from when we moved you from your aunt and uncle's house?" Ron asked.

"Don't be ridiculous," Hermione scoffed. "Mad-Eye made sure that we used all of it. Hold on, let me ask Professor Slughorn."

As Hermione ran off to speak with the Potions teacher, Harry turned to Ron. "I think I know where Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem is!"

"Brilliant! Where?"

"It's in the Room of Requirement. I remember seeing it when I was looking for a place to hide Snape's potions book. All we have to do is find it."

"Leave it to me and Hermione," Ron said.

"And me," added Ginny.

"No," Harry said to Ginny. "You shouldn't even be here! You're under age and need to evacuate with the others!"

"A little late for that, Harry. And you're not going to make me leave, anyway. Besides, I'm the Gryffindor seeker now, and I am every bit as good as you were!"

"If not better," Ron muttered. Harry looked at him in surprise. "Well, she is!" Ron added.

"And what are you going to when you find it, anyway? We don't have anything to destroy it with!" Harry argued.

"What do you think these are for?" Ron said as he pointed his chin at the bundle of fangs in his arms.

"What are they?"

"Basilisk fangs."

"How did you get your hands on basilisk fangs?"

"It was all Ron's idea," Hermione said as she returned, then explained how Ron had gotten the idea to go down to the Chamber of Secrets, as the fang of the basilisk that Harry had killed a few years earlier had been able to destroy Tom Riddle's diary, and how Ron had even managed to fake Parseltongue well enough to open the girl's bathroom entrance. Ron's face grew redder as she spoke.

"Yeah, but she's the one who used one to destroy Helga Hufflepuff's cup." Ron beamed.

"Really?" Harry said.

"Yeah. You got to destroy You-Know-Who's diary, I got to destroy Slytherin's locket, it was only fair."

"Good." Harry told Hermione what he had told Ron about where the diadem was. "It may be hard to find. So, when we get there, we can..."

"Not you, Harry, us," Hermione said as she pointed to herself and Ron.

"And me," Ginny said. "I'm just as good on the broom as you are, I'm the best Seeker at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall said that I'm even better than you were. And you've seen my wandwork, so you know I can defend myself if we get caught."

"But I..."

"Need to be here at least for a while so people don't give up. They need someone to rally around when they get ready to face You-Know-Who. Especially the students. They were all rattled when he said you were dead. Especially me." Ginny said the last almost under her breath.

Harry looked at Ginny for a moment before he turned to Hermione. "What did Professor Slughorn say about dying under the Polyjuice?"

"He wasn't sure. He _thinks_ you would change back, either when you died or when the hour was up, but he couldn't remember it ever happening."

"Here's hoping he's wrong. Well, off to find the diadem, and good luck." Harry gave Hermione a quick hug, and Ginny a not-so-quick kiss, before his friends ran down the hall.

He spent some time awkwardly mingling with those who had stayed behind, and proving that he really was who he said he was time and again.

There was a commotion at the front door. Hundreds of wands raised as one to take aim at a disheveled, frantic-looking Severus Snape. The headmaster dropped to his knees and raised his empty hands in surrender.

"I must speak with Potter, now! It's important! There is information that he has to have before he goes out to face the Dark Lord!"

"Your master, Severus?" Professor McGonagall said, making no attempt to hide the contempt in her voice. "How can he trust a word you say? Especially as you've proven that he was right about you all along."

"No! I am not the Dark Lord's man, I swear it! I only served him on Dumbledore's orders, ever since L...the boy's parents were killed."

"Do you honestly expects us to believe that?" Ron yelled.

"If you don't...Professor Slughorn, you have some Veritaserum in your bag do you not?"

"Of course," Slughorn replied.

"Seriously, Severus, do you expect us to fall for that?" Professor McGonagall shook her head. "We all know how skilled you are with Occlumency, and how do we know you haven't already taken the antidote?"

"Very well. There is one other way." Snape carefully and deliberately pulled a stoppered empty flask and his wand from his pocket, showing no reaction when the wands pointed at him were raised slightly higher.

He unstopped the flask, then tapped the wand to his temple repeatedly, each time drawing a shimmering silvery thread out and down into the flask. When he was finished, he stoppered the flask and set it on the floor between him and Harry. "You know what to do, Potter. The password is 'Dumbledore'."

Harry looked from Snape to McGonagall, who for once seemed at a loss for words. He grabbed the flask and ran quickly down the hall to Dumbledore's office (Harry had to keep reminding himself that it was now Snape's office – it would always feel like Dumbledore's, to him). When he arrived, he removed the Pensieve from the cabinet and set it on its stand, then carefully emptied the flask into it.

He took a deep breath and ducked his head into the Pensieve, watching the tale that Snape's memories told. He saw how Snape met Harry's mother, and had loved her from the beginning. He saw Snape meet Harry's father. He saw how Snape had been bullied and tormented by James Potter and his friends the whole time they were at Hogwarts, and how Snape's choice of friends eventually drove Lily away.

He saw how Snape was devastated when he confessed to Dumbledore that he had, by his own ignorance, led Voldemort to Lily Potter and caused the Potters' deaths, and how Dumbledore convinced him to try to redeem himself by becoming a double agent within the ranks of the remaining Death Eaters, reporting to Dumbledore, and by protecting Lily and James's son. He then saw how Dumbledore was mortally wounded when he destroyed Marvolo Gaunt's ring, and engineered his own death at Snape's hands. And he saw that he himself had accidentally become a Horcrux when Voldemort had failed to kill him.

When he emerged from the Pensieve, Harry realized what that meant and what he had to do. He slowly walked back to the Entrance Hall, knowing that this would be the last time that he ever saw Hogwarts.

Just before he reached the hall, he stopped and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the Golden Snitch that Dumbledore had left him, held it up to his mouth, and breathed, "I open at the close." When he did, the Snitch split open to reveal a spherical stone with the sign of the Deathly Hallows (a triangle within a circle, with a straight line down the middle) engraved upon it, and broken down the middle line. He put the stone back in his pocket and walked into the Hall.

As he did, Voldemort's high voice carried across the grounds.

"Your time is up, and I must say that I am very disappointed. Almost all of you have decided to join your beloved hero, Harry Potter, in death, and in so doing have condemned your entire families to share your fate."

Harry walked over to Professor McGonagall. "I'm going out there, alone. I know how to defeat him, but it has to be me."

"Are you mad, Potter? We can't allow you to go out there by yourself!"

"Professor, unless you restrain me or knock me out, you can't stop me. And if you do, you know that he will kill each and every one of you. Professor, I _have_ to do this."

"Very well, Potter," McGonagall reluctantly said. "And God be with you."

As Harry reached the door, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Neville ran up to stop him.

"Are you absolutely mental?" Ron hissed. " Do you honestly think you can kill Voldemort by yourself?"

"I have to. I'm the only one who can. It's hard to explain."

"Are you absolutely certain, Harry?" Ginny said as she fought back tears.

Harry simply nodded, and wrapped his arms awkwardly around her as as she hugged him tightly. "Come back, please, Harry," she said so softly that only he could hear. "For me, please." She let him go entirely too soon, he thought, as he turned once more to leave.

Harry strode out onto the front lawn, and stopped. He was shocked to see his own body floating above the approaching mob of Death Eaters like a toy balloon. Voldemort was at the front of the parade like a grand marshal.

"Not one step farther, Voldemort!" Harry yelled over the noise of the students and teachers behind him yelling in shock at the sight. He reached into his pocket and turned the Resurrection Stone three times. He took a quick glance around him, and saw the spectral forms of his parents, his godfather...and himself. He stopped and stared at the apparition for a moment, coming to his senses only when the spectral Harry mouthed, "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"What?" Voldemort stopped dead in his tracks. "Impossible! You're dead, Potter! I killed you!" With a flick of his wand, he threw the dead Harry's body at the school. Harry forced himself not to look when it hit the ground nearby.

"I don't know who you killed, but it wasn't me."

"No matter. I've killed you once, I'll simply have to kill you again." Voldemort drew his wand and pointed it at Harry.

"You'll have to, Voldemort. Because that's the only way you'll be able to reach Hogwarts."

"Avada Kedavra!" screamed Voldemort. A bolt of green shot from the tip of his wand to strike Harry square in the chest. Both Harry and Voldemort flew back several feet and fell, unmoving, to the ground.

Voldemort's Death Eaters approached him fearfully, looking for any signs of life. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and the Doctor (who had just ran to the scene from the Forbidden Forest) reached Harry before anyone else, although Professor McGonagall wasn't far behind. Ginny was crying uncontrollable, as was Hermione. Even McGonagall was unable to hold back her tears.

The Doctor immediately pulled out his sonic screwdriver and ran it over Harry's torso. "You can't be dead yet, you've got so much left to do!"

"Oi! Who are you?" Ron yelled as he grabbed the Doctor's shoulder and pulled him away from Harry's body.

"I'm the Doctor. I'll explain later."

"You can't be the Doctor," Hermione said, "you..."

"Yes, yes, I know. New face, new body. It happens. Just remember, bigger on the inside."

"But what are you doing here?"

"I'll explain as much as I can later, Hermione. But Harry needs to come back first."

"What do you mean 'come back'?" Neville said. "Is he really dead?"

"Yes, he is...but he's not supposed to stay dead."

Some distance away, Voldemort slowly got to his feet. Lucius Malfoy handed him the Elder Wand.

Neville turned murderous eyes toward Voldemort and charged as he drew his own wand, but before he could do anything Voldemort Disarmed him, causing him to fly back onto the ground.

"What have we here?" Voldemort said softly. "One of Harry Potter's lackeys wishes to be the first to share his fate? Who is this martyr?"

"Neville Longbottom. A Gryffindor," drawled Malfoy.

"Longbottom. Why does that name sound familiar?"

"The son of the Aurors, my Lord," purred Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Ah, yes. I remember now. You're Pureblood, aren't you, Longbottom? You belong with me, with my Death Eaters, not debasing yourself with this lot."

"I would rather die before joining you, Voldemort! Dumbledore's Army!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Voldemort hit Neville with a Full Body-Bind Curse and looked around angrily at the crowd as they yelled in response.

Those who were around Harry's body stood to watch Neville's defiance of the Dark Lord, and did not see Harry's eyes flutter.

"Very well. On your own head be it, Longbottom," Voldemort said in his soft, high voice. A flick of his wand brought the Sorting Hat flying to his hand.

"We won't be needing this any more, I should imagine. The only House that will be allowed at Hogwarts is Slytherin." Voldemort took the Sorting Hat and pulled it down firmly so far over Neville's head that it covered his eyes. Voldemort touched his wand to the hat, and it burst into eerie blue flames.

Just then, Harry staggered to his feet and draw his wand.

"No more, Voldemort," he said weakly. "No more death. The killing stops here, now."

"What? That's impossible!" Voldemort screamed. "I've killed you! Twice!"

He stared dumbstruck at Harry, who was growing stronger by the second. He did not notice Neville break free of the Full Body-Bind and pull the hat from his unmarred head, nor did he see Neville reach into the hat and pull out the Sword of Gryffindor. He did, however, notice Nagini's head when it rolled to his feet.

He screamed in rage and hurled a Killing Curse at Neville, who barely dodged in time.

"Voldemort," Harry said. "I told you, no more. It's just you and me now. Nobody else. One on one, a duel to the death."

"Do you really wish to die, Potter? I've already killed you twice, you can't stop me from killing you a third time!"

"It's the dawn of a new day, Voldemort. And you will never kill anyone, ever again."

"Very well."

Without a word, everyone formed a circle around the two. Defenders of Hogwarts stood shoulder to shoulder with Death Eaters, but no one seemed to notice. Every eyes was fixed on the two duellists. There was yelling and cheering for a short time until everyone realized that Harry and Voldemort seemed to be simply circling and talking to each other, although it seemed that Harry was doing most of the talking.

Finally, just as the first rays of dawn peeked through the branches of the Forbidden Forest, they both struck simultaneously. Voldemort's Killing Curse met Harry's Disarming Charm halfway between them. The Dark Lord's spell rebounded with a loud bang, and Voldemort fell back onto the grass, dead.

It took a few moments for the onlookers to grasp what had happened. When the truth set in, a deafening chorus of cheers erupted, and Harry found himself being swept into the castle.

Almost no one saw the Doctor stay behind and pick up the lifeless body of the Boy Who Lived.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione was at the front of the crowd, just shy of the front doors, when she glanced back and saw the Doctor standing up again with something big and heavy in his arms. She remembered Harry's doppelganger that Voldemort had killed. It took some effort for her to force her way to the edge of the crowd. "I'll catch up with you inside!" she yelled at Ron over the tumultuous cheers.

Once she had worked her way free, she ran until she was in front of the Doctor and stopped in his path. "Doctor, what are you doing here? And is that really Harry?"

His silence answered her question more clearly than any words would have. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at him. "Why? Why did you bring him here to die?" she yelled. Try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from crying.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but he didn't give me any choice."

"What do you mean?"

"He had a long, productive life. He felt his time had come, and that he had to come back here one last time."

"That...that doesn't sound like him. I mean, he's known that that he could die facing Voldemort for years, but to just give up like that?"

"He had a _very _long life. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get to the Tardis and take him home."

"Oh. Of course. Allow me, Doctor." Hermione stepped aside, a hint of suspicion still in her eyes. With a flick of her wand and a whispered "Wingardium Leviosa," she was levitating Harry's body between them as she followed the Doctor.

"When you say he had a 'very long life," she asked, "just how 'very' are we talking, Doctor? He looks just the same as he does now."

"Long enough that he had taken to telling people he'd come across another Philosopher's Stone and re-created an Elixir of Life."

"And people actually believed he would do that, after Voldemort? Or had he changed that much after all he went through?"

"People will believe anything, when the alternative is believing the impossible. Those close to him knew the truth. But no, he hadn't changed that much. He was, at heart, the same person he'd been as a...as when you know him."

Hermione and the Doctor walked in silence, picking their steps carefully in the scant moonlight. They both occasionally looked back to make sure they weren't being followed. "Well, here we are," the Doctor said when they finally reached the Tardis.

"Oh, before you go, Hermione. Harry did something to the door before he left, and I've been unable to get it open again. Do you mind?"

Hermione let Harry's body come to rest on the ground and examined the door. "Oh, he did a good job with this, didn't he?" she said, almost to herself, then smirked at the Doctor. "Been practicing for a while, hasn't he?"

"Can you fix it?"

"Of course!" She gestured at the door and said "Alohamora." Nothing happened. She frowned and repeated the gesture, this time shouting. The door frame made a sickly squishing noise before the doors popped open with a bang.

"Thank you very much." The Doctor bent to pick up Harry's body again, but straightened up as Hermione brushed past him into the Tardis. "Oi! Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going with you, of course. Harry is my best friend, and I am _not_ going to miss his funeral. I don't care when it is."

"Hermione, you don't know...wait. Of course you do." The Doctor sighed in defeat. He carried Harry inside and kicked the door shut behind him before setting him down on the deck.

"Harry lived a _very_ long time, Hermione," he said softly as he set the controls and threw the lever. "So when he comes from will probably look a bit different. So, just a quick pop in, then to the funeral, then back again. Agreed?"

"Agreed. Maybe I should wait here for you? Or will you need me to get in."

"I don't have the keys to his house, so..."

Before he could finish, Hermione pointed her wand at Harry and said "Accio house key!" A keyring flew out of his pocket to her waiting hand. "Next problem?" she grinned. She loved seeing the look on muggles' faces whenever she did even the simplest charm around them, and despite his centuries of travel, the Doctor was still basically a muggle.

"All righty, then. I will be right back."

"Oh. Before you go, Doctor," Hermione said after he had picked up Harry again. She cast quick Invisibility Spells over the Doctor and Harry's body.

She stood in the door of the Tardis and looked across the street at 12 Grimmauld Place, trying not to think about the fact that Harry was dead. Oh,not _her_ Harry, of course...not really. But it was still Harry's body that was, even now, being put somewhere for someone to find. That was rather cruel, she thought. Someone's going to find a dead body. Someone close to him, if they live in the same house as him. Maybe his wife, or one of his children.

For some reason, she couldn't shake the thought that he was married. She hoped that he had been happy. But if he had forced the Doctor to take him back in time to die, she suspected that he wasn't. Not really.

She heard footsteps running toward her, then the Doctor's breathless voice near her. "Done. Now, can you let me in and...de-invisible me?"

Hermione stepped back inside. Once the doors closed (seemingly of their own accord, although she knew that the Doctor must have closed them behind him), she cast the counter-spell. The Doctor, once he reappeared, had a slightly manic look on his face.

"Why didn't anybody tell me about the alarms?"

"What alarms?"

"I don't know. Some magic-y stuff. One made my tongue go all weird, and one made the ghost of some long-haired bloke appear and point at me until I said that I didn't kill Harry."

"Oh. Those. They're still around?"

"Apparently so, yeah!"

"I'm sorry, I thought that Harry would have gotten rid of them after everything."

"Right. Well, then. How are you doing, Hermione? Do you want to get some rest before we go on?"

"Yes, I think I would. I'm all right, but a good night's sleep would be good. Thank you."

"I'll park the Tardis somewhere while you get some rest, then. Just straight done the corridor, pick a bedroom you like."

* * *

Hermione felt surprisingly well-rested when she finally got out of bed after what felt like days. At first, she had a hard time staying asleep, as it seemed that every time she finally drifted off she had another nightmare and woke up again.

She had found a kitchen and made herself a good breakfast before she found the wardrobe. She spent only a few minutes looking before she found what she was looking for: a black dress with a matching veil.

"I haven't slept through it, have I?" she asked as she walked into the control room.

"No chance of that, is there?" The Doctor was wearing a tuxedo with a black bow tie. "Are you ready?"

"Yes. Where are we going?"

"Godric's Hollow. They're going to have something like a state funeral, then a procession to the graveyard, where he'll be laid to rest with his family."

"I'm sure that's what he always wanted. I remember him saying once that if he didn't make it, he wanted to be buried with his parents."

The Tardis materialized on the outskirts of the city. Hermione stopped when she stepped out of the police box. She had always pictured Godric's Hollow as a small village, and it had been just that when she was there at Christmas with Harry. But now, it was a good-sized town. She could see throngs of strangely-dressed people, obviously wizards, headed toward the centre of town.

"What are they doing?" Hermione whispered as she grabbed the Doctor's arm. "People will see them!"

"They don't have to hide anymore, Hermione. Haven't had to for a while."

The two followed the other wizards to the small church. When they stepped inside, they saw that the inside of the church had been expanded to the size of St Paul's Cathedral. They had no trouble finding a seat, although it soon became obvious that whoever had planned the funeral had done a good job of estimating how many people would show up. It wasn't just witches, wizards, and muggles in attendance, either. A number of centaurs stood against one wall, goblins and house-elves (all of whom, Hermione was pleasantly surprised to see, were fully dressed) sat in the pews, as did a few giants and trolls. Tanks holding a few merpeople were also wheeled in.

Eventually, a handful of wizards walked slowly up the center aisle carrying Harry's body, which they gently laid on the table at the front of the chapel. A tall, somber-looking man with long red hair walked up to the table and started to speak to the mourners. The longer he spoke, the more amazed Hermione became. After a long while, she leaned over to the Doctor and whispered, "How long...?"

"Like I said," the Doctor whispered back before she could finish her question, "a _very_ long and productive life."

Eventually the speaker finished his eulogy and nodded to the pall-bearers. With a flick of their wands, cool, white flames erupted around the body, coalescing into a seamless white marble casket. They then, with another flick of their wands, lifted the casket into the air and slowly made their way to the graveyard, with the casket floating between them.

Hermione and the Doctor joined the procession after most of the others. "Now, Hermione, whatever you do, don't go looking at the gravestones. Might accidentally see something you have no business knowing about yet."

"I understand, Doctor."

The two stood off at some distance, watching as the casket was lowered into the ground and the earth moved to cover it. Eventually the crowd started to disperse, and they had enough room to move to the graveside.

Hermione stood there for a while in silence, tears streaming down her face. "I'm ready to go, Doctor," she finally said.

As she turned to go, she tripped over the feet of another wizard walking behind her and fell to the ground in front of a monument. As she got to her feet, she looked up and saw a picture of herself waving to people that only she could see. Although her picture was of a middle-aged woman, the hair was still as curly and bushy as it was now. Hermione couldn't keep her eyes from going to the epitaph. Her eyes widened in shock as she read:

_Hermione Jean Granger Potter_

_19 September 1979 - 9 February 2133._

_Member of Parliament, Minister of Magic, Prime Minister_

_Loving wife and mother._

She took a few steps back before turning and bumping into the Doctor.

"What did I tell you about looking at the markers, Hermione?" he said, taking her by the arm and leading her away.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, it was an accident!"

"Well, what's done is done. But you, of all people, should know better."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What I mean, Miss Granger, is that you have dealt with time travel before. You know how fragile the time-line is, how easy it is to accidentally change what was to what might have been."

"I'll be very careful, Doctor. But, since I've seen more than I should anyway, will you please tell me what Harry was doing? Why he decided to make you take him back to 1998 to face Voldemort again? You'd think that would be the last thing he'd ever want to do."

The Doctor thought for a moment. "I'll tell you in the Tardis, on the way back."

A few minutes later found them back inside the Doctor's vessel. He didn't say anything until he had led her to one of the kitchens and poured them both a hot mug of butterbeer. The Doctor grinned after taking a long sip. "This stuff is brilliant! How did your lot keep it secret for so long?"

"Doctor! What about Harry?"

"Ah. Right. Well, I was hoping you'd let me forget you asked that. But, since you didn't..." His voice trailed off as he picked out what he could safely tell her.

"I suppose you've figured out that when I said he had a long life, I meant an _incredibly_ long one, for one of your lot. He lived about five and a half centuries after Voldemort." He ignored Hermione's gasp of surprise. "And he never seemed to grow a day older. After a while, I guess he figured out that he couldn't die. And he got the idea that the only way he _could_ die was if Voldemort killed him, which would be hard to do, seeing as how Harry had killed him hundred of years earlier. So, he got the idea to use the Tardis to go back to he could finally die."

Hermione looked horrified at the Doctor's words.

"What can we, what can _I_ do to help him?"

"Nothing, Hermione. Absolutely nothing you wouldn't do anyway. You've seen bits of the future, you know how the story ends. You can't spoil it for him by telling him what happens next."

"It's not going to be easy, is it?"

"It never is. But that's life. He's going to need your help even more than ever, now that Voldemort's gone. And I think you might need him, too. Just don't ever give up on each other, all right?"

The Doctor went back to the control room and set a course for immediately after the Battle of Hogwarts, leaving Hermione behind to think. It was mere moments before a solid thud and an ever-so-slight lurch told him that they had landed. Hermione came to the control room a few minutes later with worried look on her face.

"Oh, one more thing," he said as he walked with her out of the Tardis. "I'm meeting you out of order, in a way. It's like you were on chapter four, and you flipped ahead to chapter thirty-one. Or I've flipped ahead, it's hard to tell. So, when you meet me again, this hasn't happened yet, for me. So, no spoilers."

Hermione grinned. "No spoilers, I promise. So, that means we will see you again, Doctor?"

The Doctor grinned back. "Spoilers!" he said as he went back inside and closed the doors.

Hermione didn't look back as she followed the sounds of the celebration at Hogwarts, which almost drowned out the whooshing of the Tardis disappearing.

She smiled to herself as she walked back to the castle. She knew now what she had to look forward to. Now, she just had to make sure that Harry always knew that he had something look forward to. And she knew she couldn't wait to see what the next chapter of their lives held.

* * *

**Author's**** note**

And so ends my first story. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to writing more (now that I have an audience!).

I want to thank all of you for reading, and for those who favorited and/or followed it, THANK YOU! You will not believe how much that meant to me.

I especially want to thank my friends and coworkers who have been telling me for years that I was good at this (namely, DiDi, Vicki, Christy, Pandaeyes, and even She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and others whose names escape me at the moment) - I wish I had believed you earlier.

This story was originally intended as a post-script to my next story, _Harry Potter and the Wizard of Skaro_ (elements of which I've hinted at in this story), but it demanded to come out first. I don't know when I'll be able to start posting that one, but I'll try to do better at keeping a good updating schedule when I do.

Again, thank you all very much.


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